That Window
by my lovestory13.com
Summary: A childhood story of first love! KM


[Summary

"_This window looks so familiar."_

"What are you talking about?"

"Nevermind…"

----------------------That Window-----------------------------------

------------------A childhood memory------------------------------

As a little 7-year-old girl who grew up in the contemporary world of America, Japan and its culture always amazed me in many ways. I was always curious as to how my birthplace looks like. Aside from their essentially unique language which I had learned to speak since three, I also admired their creative architectural structures that define and symbolize their culture, which I could only see in postcards and in my wildest imaginations (because my mother talks about Japan for almost everyday). Specifically, their temples amazed me a lot and more specific than that is the sliding window with amazingly handcrafted _shoji_ screens.

More amazing than that, my heart almost left my chest when I heard we'll be going to Japan! My mother will meet her never-forgotten best friend in Japan. Although it will be just for a few days, I don't necessarily care about counting the days. All I'm concerned about is seeing Japan!

The long wait was over! After seven long years of imagining myself in that country, it was about time my imagination is also over. It was about time I _see_ my hometown. I will not only see Japan, I will also meet Japanese people in there. I'm so excited!

As I was sitting comfortably on the soft chair of the airplane with my seatbelt tied up tightly for safety, I wrote almost everything I wanted to visit in Japan. Aside from Disneyland©, I would like to see and set foot in a "real" temple with sliding doors and wooden floors. Mama always told me that the place we'll be going has a big temple with sliding doors and wooden floors. After jotting down everything in my little diary, I put my notebook and pen into my pink purse securely.

But Disneyland© and all other wonderful places I would like to go were nowhere in sight as I read a sign on the top of my head, written in white bold letters – HEIOMACHI Airport. What place is this? This isn't JAPAN! I was about to tell Mama and Papa that we were not in Japan, but Mama explained to me that Heiomachi is one of the beautiful places in Japan, which made my hopes high. While my mother was calling out a taxicab, I was beginning to think of what nice places there will be in this part of Japan.

Instead of Disneyland©, I discovered there is a Momonland in this place when I saw another sign standing alongside the street that read: "Momonland Amusement Park is closed for renovation. Watch out for its grand opening soon!" After reading the sign, I felt the disappointment inside my heart vanished knowing that there is also an amusement park in this place.

'Are we in heaven?' I asked myself after the car stopped and brought us to a tall stairway with a hundred steps going up. To reassure myself, I touched the first step of the staircase just to know it was not a 'cotton candy' thing; it was as rough as concrete, so old and worn out.

Without much further ado, Mama and Papa took their first two steps up the stairs as I had taken the first step which I touched earlier. The initial steps were not very tiresome because I was thinking all the time that this is the first time I set foot on an antique stairs of Japan and I should feel every step of it. When I was in the 50th step, I heard faint voices not so very far from my ear.

"Whoa! It's an amusement park!" I first heard an adorable voice of a girl announcing happily.

Then a charming tone came next, "Let's go to that amusement park when it will be open!"

"I can't go, I'm leaving for America the day before it opens." But the girl's voice seemed so faint and sad. I could feel she was close to crying when she said, "But… but I'm sure I will be back."

"When I came back, will you ride on that Ferris wheel with me? Will you watch the sunset with me?" the young girl continued fighting against tears.

Just then, the charming voice of a boy answered, "Of course, I promise!"

"Alright! A promise!" At that moment, the sad voice of the girl turned back into an adorable one.

'Oh! A promise!' How cute! Japanese children also make promises to each other like how I promised my mom to be behaved during this travel. I stopped walking and sat tiredly on one of the steps of the stairs when I heard their conversation, eager to know where those playmates are.

Then, I saw two lithe forms of small kid about my age. The girl was wearing a lavender dress with her black hair in a ponytail. She was with a chocolate-haired boy, wearing a red sweatshirt and a blue short pant while holding a soccer ball in one hand. They were talking to each other and I think they were the one I overheard making a promise.

But the next thing I saw was so heartbreaking. She kissed him on the cheek and waved him goodbye. I blushed. Then she came climbing down the tree and disappeared. I stared at the boy who was still sitting on the branch of the tree, playing and rolling his soccer ball against his stretched legs. He seemed very sad, wearing a long face. I kept staring at him that I didn't even heard Mama was already shouting at me, calling me to walk on fast. "Miyu, hurry up now. It's getting hot staying here."

So on, I walked up until the next 50 steps and was invited by a big wooden door – the entrance to my little museum. Now, I would not only see, but I could also touch and feel some of the many handicrafts of the culture of Japan. Now, I could see the handcrafted window screens.

Two slight knocks on the door knocked off my dainty daydream. We waited patiently for a few seconds until Mama made another couple of taps on the wood, but there was still no welcoming response from the inside. My hopeful heart started to fall out with broken hopes, shattered dreams, impossible sights, and faraway touches.

Just a CLICK followed by a heavy creaking sound that nearly broke my eardrum unbroken my broken hopes and shattered dreams, made the impossibility of seeing the unseen possible, drawn me near to the touches on the handicrafts.

"Oh, the door's open. I hope it's not wrong to go in. I wonder where everybody is." Mama said while opening the door to let ourselves in without consulting the owner of this hou—se…

"Oh my!" I gasped heavily, amazed by the marvelous sight before me. It's not a house, but a big temple!

Mama smiled, "You will like staying here, ne, Miyu?" as we continued walking towards the sliding door I longed to hold and slid open with my own little fingers. When we were a few distance near the door, I tugged my father's pants wanting him to carry me. He felt the tension I was feeling at the moment, so he held me up and embraced me as I closed my eyes and hugged Papa's shoulders. It seemed like everything was in a slow motion while Mama was slowly sliding the door open. Hearing the sound of the door sliding, I gently faced the door, still hugging Papa's shoulders and opened my eyes like waking up from a deep slumber. So, this is what a temple looks like.

I was startled when Mama went inside the door and brought our baggage in. Papa just smiled at me and put me down the ground to help Mama carry the heavy bags. They walked inside after slipping on the pairs of house slippers for two. So, temples had house slippers, too. I was left all alone clutching the sliding door, too afraid to even set a foot on a foreign house; overcame by fear to even notice the sounds of footsteps running toward me.

I wanted to make every action dramatic such as _now_. Slowly, I will put my first step on the house and make every detail of it dramatic, so that I could cherished every inch of it. I will call it, "My first footstep on the temple."

Holding at the door tightly, I carried my foot up and advanced a few centimeters aiming at a favorable area while saying, "This is my first-"

"OUCH!" I heard my own voice squeaked as I fell so hard on the floor. There was something weird about my voice at that moment when I shouted OUCH! I was hearing two voices at the same time, or maybe it was an echo. Before I could choose the latter, an angry voice woke me up from unconsciousness.

"What are you doing? It's your fault for standing at the door!" he said to me angrily.

After hearing someone shout at me, I realized he has no right to shout at me, so I retorted the same anger he poured out toward me, "Who are you? Is this your temple too?" oblivious of the fact that he was someone I had never seen before.

"Temple?" he asked.

"Anyway, this is my temple so STAY OUT!" I shouted.

"I don't want to!"

At that, I was very furious that my face started to blush with anger because of this little boy who cut off my dramatic entrance, and now, it's all ruined. To express my intense irritation, I sent sharp daggers of stares at him, waiting for blood to leak out from any part of his body especially the face. His counter-attack made my blood boiled more than a hundred degree Celsius. He put his thumbs on each of his cheeks, waving it back and forth, and pulled out his tongue playfully. And those chocolate-brown eyes were smiling so wickedly. I was about to avenge him with my most winning power, but a series of loud thumping came in my ear from a near distance until it grew faintly. He was escaping away from me! I searched for the direction of the footsteps, but then I just saw a sliding door closed with the sound of the smooth friction of the wood against another wood.

He disappeared already.

Recovering from the painful fall, I tried to put myself together and stood up, but I couldn't. Again, my body fell hard on the floor, but then I didn't felt any pain as I felt something soft against my tummy. With the help of the soft ball and a little crawling, I rolled my aching body to the wooden floor and fell flat on it, enjoying the sensation of my body against its coldness and cleanness.

I grabbed the soccer ball I used and stared at it for a few seconds. 'Where does this ball come from? I didn't notice it was here earlier.' Rolling it at any corner, I searched for a clue or a name of the owner. Just then, my mind flashed back what I saw earlier at the stairs. There was a boy holding and playing with his soccer ball on top of a tree. Maybe he was the same boy who bumped into me.

'Maybe, I should give this back to him.' I said to myself.

'No, he should search for this first, and I will give it to him.'

'NO, he must say sorry to me first.'

I lied down the floor for one whole hour, thinking of what should I do with the ball and the boy. In conclusion, I didn't have my final decision, so I just lay there to recover from pain. But the ball and the boy could never leave me in peace. With nothing to do at all, I spun and spun the ball until it slipped away from my hands. It rolled itself a few distance from where I sat. Then, it stopped voluntarily in front of a screen door. It was like saying to come there and follow it as I did so.

I stood up and led myself before the window adjacent to the door. Picking up the ball and hugging it against my tummy, I stretched my legs on the floor and leaned the more-advantaged side of my body on the wall, pressing my face against the window. The window was so cold like remnants of snow had not melted away. I closed the gap between the window and my face as I rubbed my right cheek on the screen of the window, searching for any sign of soul on the other side of the window.

Then I heard him, sobbing and crying softly against a pillow. He sounded very sad that I thought I would cry, too. So, I saw myself crying even louder than his cry that made him stopped from weeping and gasped in shock to know that someone has heard him crying.

"Who's out there?" he asked half-shouting, trying to mask off the sound of his crying voice.

I gasped heavily as though I was heart attack. Calming my nerves, I shouted back "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to break in. I just wanted to return your soccer ball; you left it just at the door earlier." Stretching out my hand, I slid the door open and rolled the ball in to the room without showing my red face.

I heard him touched the ball and bounced it lowly. It stopped mid-air as he caught the ball in his hand.

"Wanna play?" I felt he smiled when he invited me. The imagination was so tempting that I wanted to see the smile on his face. I took a glance at him and saw a welcoming smile so warm and friendly.

"Is it okay?"

He bounced the ball twice and bounced it at an angle to send the ball toward me. Alertly, I caught the ball with two hands and smiled sweetly at the thought that I successfully caught the ball. Getting ready for release, I clutched the ball firmly and let it slip away from my hand to his ball-hungry fingers.

The moment he caught the ball, he uttered something that made his cheeks went red, "Thanks…" then he bounced the ball back to me and continued, "for returning the ball."

Thinking it was a conversation starter or a friendship blossoming, I gave him a cheerful smile as my way of saying, "You're welcome!" which he responded with the same cheerfulness. Then, I remembered my pink purse where I left my precious pen in it and searched for it. When I found my marker, I wrote something on the ball saying he should always show that kind of smile, "a sweet and charming smile!"

Just as I finished writing on the ball and was ready to bounce it to him, someone suddenly snatched the ball away from my hold. It was him and his terrifying angry face with the ball he held up protectively. His eyes were glowing in anger as he stared down at me, ready to eat his prey alive.

At that moment, I thought I was a dead kitten, nervous and confused at the same time. Did he got mad because I wrote on that ball? It was not the right time to think about the answer. I should be thinking of what to do to make him calm.

Love-dove came into my ear as I heard my heart beat loudly thumping against my chest. It became louder and louder when he took a step forward, advancing toward me. Love-dove. It sounded so clearly that it was getting into my nerves, and I don't want another sound of my nervous chest, so I voluntarily ran out of the room and hid myself on the window wall. My body was shaking reluctantly. I was in a state of shock, in a wild nightmare with eyes wide open, thinking, "Who was that just now?"

I snapped out of it when I was interrupted with a loud slam of the sliding door. He closed his world again, and I have to open it over again.

Once again, I stared at the window long enough until I realized this was the type of window I longed to touch and feel every craft of it. Tempted, I touched it just to discover the white squares were made out of special paper. More tempted or maybe out of ignorance, I wondered if my precious pen is precious enough to mark this special kind of paper.

I did what I was thinking. I did write on the window, scribbling the Japanese characters 'Sorry, I truly am.'

After a few more minutes of thinking and rethinking, I finally convinced myself to talk to him and apologize. It was my fault after all. Slowly, without making any tinge of noise, I opened the door of the room and slid myself inside quietly. I then saw him crying quietly – the first time I saw a boy shed tears although he was trying to hide his tears with his head facing the floor. But this time, I didn't cry with him because I had no reason to. I realized, he was really crying over something I don't know what; I don't know why he seemed very sad all this time. Then I began to fill my eyes with water when I realized he's alone; he's lonely.

"Wah! What are you doing?" he panicked, interrupted from going senti-menti.

"Whenever I feel like crying," I said with half-filled tears in my eyes, "Mama always 'brush brush' my head." Although my fingers were so cute and small, I still stroke his head back and forth with so much tenderness, hoping it would somehow ease away his feelings of depression.

"Brush, brush…" I echoed, smoothing voice to let him know that he's not alone.

He dropped his face a little lower and said, "I'm not crying," fighting back the tears.

Despite his confession, I asked him, "Why do you seem so sad?"

"Akira… she's leaving me." he answered so sadly, sobbing between the lines.

"Don't cry, she'll come back soon. She promised."

"How do you know?" he asked back, holding his head up to face me with his eyes filled with tears and red cheeks.

"A promise is a promise." I smiled sweetly to him, reassuring him that everything going to be all right, "Now promise me that you will always smile," I made him promise and grabbed the soccer ball beside him.

"That ball is precious to me. Akira and I used to play soccer with it. She gave me that as a gift," he stated.

"About your ball, I'm sorry." I finally apologized, but then I disregard it quickly and told him about the ball. Flashing the smiley I drew at the ball, I smiled and said, "Promise me, you will always smile a sweet and charming smile like that. Promise me,"

"Why are we making a promise?" he asked again, although I was sure he was okay with it.

"…so that you will not forget me. I'm your friend."

"Because you will leave me, too?" I saw the fear in his eyes, worried that I will be leaving him behind.

"No, I will never leave you. I'm your friend, remember? And friends never leave each other's heart." Reaching his right chest with my left hand, I touched it and continued, "I'm just right here! I promise I will never leave you; _we'll be staying together forever!_"

Mama was so worried about that they searched the whole place and found me inside the room sleeping beside her friend's son. They were thankful nothing bad happened to me.

On the next day, I forgot all the things I want to touch and see because I had a naughty playmate who always kept me going. It was so funny that Mama and Auntie pushed us inside the bathroom to take a bath together. She said we were very cute, but still playful even though we were innocently naked. She told me I kept splashing my playmate with water while he kept hitting me back at the head. Soon, we drifted off to sleep out of weariness. Even though we were fast asleep, Mama told me that we were still naughty and playful during sleep as we kept kicking each other's head just to get hold of the ball between us.

I woke up from long hours of sleep just to see the bed empty - no ball, no playmate.

Panic-stricken, I sought for him all over the room. Digging everything, opening everything just to find him, but there's no one. Then I grew tired of searching and I stopped searching when I stumbled upon the window where I had written the words, 'Sorry, I truly am.'

"Miyu!" Mama called me, "Have you packed up already? We're leaving now!"

"Leaving?" I told myself worriedly, "without saying goodbye to him… I promised him… I will never leave him, but where is he now?" I solemnly realized, "He left me behind."

At that realization, I cried and wrote my goodbye words to him, 'A promise… we'll be together forever!'

Soon, we were at the airport with different people of all ages saying goodbye to each other; some were happy goodbyes because a newlywed couple will be going to their honeymoon, but goodbyes are meant to be so sad like that of a little girl saying goodbye words to his playmate while holding his hands into hers. They were so cute together as the boy dropped his ball and hugged the black-haired girl so tight like he didn't want her to go away.

THUD! Thud! Thud!

I shut my eyes tightly, afraid to see that little girl and the little boy. I covered my ears with my palm, afraid to hear the sound of the ball bouncing against the floor, afraid to be reminded of someone. Sad of the thought my playmate hadn't said his goodbyes to me.

'I am brave and brave people do not cry,' convincing myself not to show sadness.

"Papa, hurry now!" Mama called out.

"Wait!" Papa called back. He picked up something and gave it to the same black-haired girl I was staring at earlier. "Oh, how cute!" Papa managed to utter before handing it to the kid. Smiling, she hugged the ball which had bounced towards my father and ran back to her former spot.

Papa came to us amused about something, "Mama, the ball is so cute! It has something written in it that says 'Your smile is so sweet and charming! Always smile like that and I'll promise I will never leave you.'"

'A soccer ball with writings in it? Could it be that…?' I stopped at my tracks to search for someone who's not there, but my heart can feel him, his presence. Turning around and around, I neither see any soccer ball nor his presence. My heart failed; I must be imagining too much.

"Miyu? Let's go!" Mama called out and I halfheartedly obeyed.

"YES, I'm coming!" I shouted, running toward my mother and father.

"_Hm?"_

"_What is it, Kanata-kun?" a little girl asked._

------------------A childhood memory------------------------------

_- Present times -_

"Oh, I'm exhausted!" I muttered tiredly while sliding the door of the house open. Kanata was also walking toward the door when I stepped on something round and hard.

"OUCH!" I exclaimed loudly feeling the pain in my body after falling hard on the floor. "Oh, could it be worse?"

"Miyu-san! Are you all right?" Wanya called out my name right when he showed himself to the entrance door carrying Ruu in his arms.

Kanata walked past me saying, "Humph! It's your fault for walking in the door. Proof that you are blind!"

"Who are you calling blind, huh?" I retorted while standing up and brushing off the dust from my dress. Before an answer reached my ears, he had disappeared off to his room when I heard the sliding door open then closed.

For quite some time, I stared at the window and smiled unknowingly. I then headed off to my room to change my clothes for dinner.

"Are you sure you're all right, Miyu-san?" Wanya asked worriedly before I could go on the task I had in mind.

"Okay, be ready for dinner. I had to keep this thing first." The sitter pet said while picking up something on the floor. I walked off to my room, opened the sliding door and closed it, but still hearing everything outside my room.

"Daa!" Ruu yelled in surprise.

"Do you like this, Ruu-chama?" Wanya asked as the baby cried out in joy, "Aiya!"

"THANKS FOR THE FOOD!" We all shouted in rejoice with the mouthful things prepared in the table.

"A nostalgic dream?" Wanya asked me after I told them about my dream last night.

"Uhm," I nodded while chewing the food I took in.

"What kind of dream was it?" The sitter pet sure was interested in my story.

With my hands clasped together and sparkling eyes full of hopes, I answered him dreamily, "A dream of my first love!"

"Seconds!" I snapped out of my own imagination when a male voice called out to Wanya, asking for another bowl of rice.

Irritated by his way of insulting (he didn't even bother to listen!), I shot him a killer glance, "Hold on! Are you listening?"

"No, why listen to your childishness?" He retorted, really getting on my nerves.

"You're really getting into my- oh!" Just beside him, I spotted Ruu flying and at the same touching his forefinger on a soccer ball rolling and rolling against the floor. He was like playing a stunt in a circus show.

"Ruu-chama!" The worried sitter pet exclaimed, "Wow! You are very good at using a ball, Master Ruu."

"Huh?" I said alertly as Kanata was also speaking the same line.

We stared at each other's eyes as we heard similar words from one another at the same time. It seemed that when I looked into his eyes, my world spun slower and slower like I was drifted into his stares at me. We both blushed and looked away from each other.

I continued my meal while he went on eating his second helping.

----------------------------------------------

I was hearing something strange outside my room just a few moments ago and until now I'm still hearing it. Someone's knocking, but no one's speaking or calling me. Fearlessly or putting up a fearless front rather, I went near the door as the sound of thudding grew louder and louder. Slowly, I reached for the side of the sliding door, getting very ready to catch the intruder like a policewoman arresting 'Public Enemy number 1'.

The door opened to reveal… Ruu? He's still with the ball.

"Mama!" He smiled at me cutely; then I grabbed him and hugged him lovingly.

"Ruu, shouldn't you be sleeping now?" I asked him, although he would only answer his sweet yell.

"Daa!" He floated away from his Mama and fly back to the soccer ball he was using for a circus trick, which was not really a trick but his own power. With his alien powers, he rolled the ball against the wooden floor. I determinedly followed him, worried that he might bump onto something or maybe I was after the familiar ball, but he led me to a room, Kanata's. Ruu did what he did earlier outside of my room. He kept making thudding sounds, in a way, to knock.

"Who's out there?" the human being on the other side of the door yelled out.

I heard he stood up and his footsteps went near the door. When he opened it, I had managed to hide myself away from his sight.

"Ruu?" He was glad to see the baby just outside the door.

"Papa!" the sweet child yelled in amusement.

"Why are you still up?" he grabbed the child and cuddled it to his chest tenderly.

"Ruu-chama, there you are! I've been looking all over for you." He announced happily to himself. "Ne, Kanata-san. Glad you found him," Wanya took Ruu away from Kanata's hold, walking off to his room. After two or three steps, he halted and faced Kanata. "Kanata-san, I was wondering if you have seen Miyu. I walked past her room earlier, but it's open and she's not in there. I can't find her anywhere," he informed him instantly.

'Jeez… I forgot to close my room's door!'

But I never imagined that Kanata would be so worried about me, "Where did that lady went off at this late of the night?" he threw the same question to the informer.

'He called me 'lady'?' I was in a great awe; I never thought that he sees me as a lady.

"I'm sorry, Kanata-san, but I have no idea. Maybe she was upset earlier because you didn't pay attention to her story," Wanya guessed wildly.

"Jeez… such a petty reason. Oh well, Wanya, you may put Ruu and yourself in bed and I'll be searching for that lost kitten."

Walking two steps forward away, he turned towards Kanata for the last time, "Is that okay with you?" Kanata nodded in response.

When I no longer heard the sound of Wanya's footsteps, I heard Kanata took a step and closed the door of his room. 'What a liar! I'm sure he won't bother searching for a lost kitten. Lost kitten, huh?' I thought to myself thinking that he just went inside his room and rested. He's really getting into my nerves. I hate him! Setting aside that thought which would only make me feel a little more irritated, I remembered the ball Ruu was playing with. I need it; I need to see it.

Revealing myself from hiding, I quietly walked towards the ball where I spotted it, but before I could take a step toward it, I was greeted in surprise.

"Oh! There you are!" he exclaimed.

"Ah!" I gasped heavily that I thought I had seen a ghost. Can you imagine my face paled and my body's like a statue just to find out it was Kanata? He looked so calm while holding the ball with his two hands. When he glanced at me, I then recovered to my normal self.

He stood in front of me and invited me, "Wanna play?"

Without any hesitation, I sat down and made myself ready with my two palms wide open, prepared to catch the ball. He also sat down the wooden floor and held the ball adjacent to his chest, all set to play our game.

"I won't be easy on you," he warned before throwing the ball towards me.

I caught it perfectly and answered, "Don't underrate your lost kitten." And the game continued. We kept bouncing the ball back to each other while a childhood memory played on my mind.

Until I grew tired, I caught the ball for the last time and hugged it. "I surrender," I managed to say before collapsing to the wall of the window; my head leaned on the bottom part of the window screens and closed my eyes shortly, feeling the stillness of the night.

Before long, I opened my eyes and noticed the markings on the window before my eyes, "This window…" I started telling him while tracing the characters written on the screen, but he continued my broken sentence.

"…looks familiar." He muttered, still sitting on his heels. Putting his head lower that I can hardly see his face, he resumed apologetically disregarding the subject, "Sorry, I truly am…"

"K-Kanata…" I faintly called out his name. "What are you talking about?"

"Sorry, if I hurt you… in any way. Listening to childhood stories also makes me feel nostalgic. I don't like recalling my childhood past and the broken promise."

"You… had your own share of story, too?" I became more and more curious to know about Kanata; it's getting a lot more interesting.

"Never mind…" he shrugged the thought away and stood up, walking towards the door.

"No, I'm listening."

He stopped walking, and we sat beside each other while he was telling me his share of childhood past. He was telling me about Akira and the day they promised to meet each other again to ride on the Ferris wheel and to watch the sunset together.

"When Akira went away, we met at the airport so that I can say my goodbye to her. I also brought this soccer ball and we promised to see each other again…"

I began to weep after hearing his story, "Oh! A promise," was all I can say as I rubbed my eyes to prevent the falling of the tears. "I also had one…"

He went near me and touched my head. I blushed. "A friend once taught me that whenever a person feels like crying, I should 'brush, brush' her head." He paused talking, yet continued stroking my head to comfort me until I shed away the tears.

"Mama always 'brush, brush' my head, too."

"Although that friend of mine has left me behind," Grabbing the soccer ball, he continued, "I just used this soccer ball so I will remember her. She wrote something on this ball to remind me of her and to always remind me to smile, and I always did." He smiled at me

There was something familiar about that story as I could exactly picture it out of mind, but it couldn't be. I stared at Kanata and I saw his smile that knocked me off my feet and took my breath away.

"Promises are meant to be kept, Miyu. It lives on forever and ever and when it is fulfilled, it dies." He said soothing words to console my sadness.

"But I don't believe in that," I said sadly reminiscing a part of my childhood past. "I promised him I will never leave him; we will live in each other's heart, but he left me without saying goodbye the day I had to fly back to America."

"Miyu," Kanata cupped my cheeks and turned my face towards his direction. "…he never did. You said you both will live in each other's heart and he did! He's still there in your heart as how you live in his."

"How did you know?" I asked half-confusedly. It's more like asking Kanata how he can be sure. How did he learn everything?

Stroking my cheeks with his cold hand, I stared at his eyes to make myself assured of the answer he will give me. "I promised… I was there in the airport the day Akira left was the same day I found out you also left. I saw you. We may have not said goodbye in words, but our hearts did because we promised each other…"

"You were that boy… I made a promise with…" I stammered breathing as I couldn't believe what I had just said.

At that moment, I saw a different glow on Kanata's eyes and deeper than that, I saw another boy's eyes – the same eyes of a boy I stared at since I was seven. "…and that promise will never die because it is written on the screens." He stated warmly and truthfully as he led me to spot another writings on the screen just next to the first screen I noticed moments ago. It was his own handwriting, "I will never leave you; we'll be staying together forever!"

I read the last words of the line; then I remembered our promise. "Together forever…"

oo..oo..oo..oo..oo..oo..oo..oo..o END o..oo..oo..oo..oo..oo..oo..oo..oo..

A/N: I'm here again! I hope you missed me. Anyway… YES! I had finished it before classes tomorrow! Haha… I promised to treat myself if I would finish this bit of nonsense, and I did and it turned out to be sensuous enough!

About the title [That Window: A childhood memory: it's inspired from true-to-life experience (of course, mine! '',) One of the foolish thing I did in my childhood was to stand at a beautiful house and wished myself going inside that house because I was very attracted to the glass-paned window. Guess what? That house happened to be my first love's home. Had I found my destiny? There's a little variation to fit in Miyu and Kanata's character.

DISCLAIMER: The anime, the characters are not mine. They're from the great Mika Kawamura. Now that I thought about it, MIKA MIyu KAnata. Haha!

FACTs:

(1) This fanfic is inspired from the Daa! Daa! Daa! Manga volume 06 (I guess) EXTRA: Little Memory.

(2) There are some dialogues that I got from the English subs of the Episode 34 and the English translation of the Manga I mentioned above. (I disclaim the ownership.)

(3) On the later part, I think the couple became a little OOC, but really, I tried my best not to smear out their characters.

ABOVE ALL, I want to thank God for bestowing me the gift of writing (although I'm still improving it! I hoped I had improved…) and to all reviewers of my past FanFic stories, thank you so much for your support. I am thanking those who will review this fic. I hoped you like it!

o0::. _There are two types of people: those who come into your life and say, "Well, here I am," and those who will come in and say, "Ah! There you are!'_ .::0o

So I am saying, "Ah! There you are, my beloved reviewer!"


End file.
